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The second series of the Jaguar Cup '04 - '05 for the Sidney Doren Memorial Cup was held on January 8th & 9th.  While the weather conditions of "bright and sunny" were great for the northerners, the winds stayed under 12 the entire weekend.  Fifty-five boats turned out to sail the 5 race series.  The winner was Simon Williams, USA 1198, from Fleet # 9, Greenwich, CT., with finishes of: (38)-3-6-9-2- for 20 points.  Gary Gilbert, USA 1238, of Annapolis Fleet # 28, took second only 2 points behind Simon.  His finishes: 3-5-(26)-10-4 for 22 points.  A full regatta report is printed below, to see the entire results: http://www.etchellsfleet20.org/racing/results.htm

Photos:      

                Digital Roll #001-100        Digital Roll #101-200         Digital Roll #201-300         Digital Roll #300-398

                   

                Digital Roll # 401-500        Digital Roll # 501-600        Digital Roll #601-700        Digital Roll #701-800

2005 Sid Doren Memorial Regatta 

On January 8^th & 9^th, the Sid Doren Memorial regatta was sailed as part of the Miami Etchells Jaguar series. 55 boats competed in the 5 race, 1-throw out series. Conditions were primarily light easterly winds. Simon Williams sailing USA 1198 won the series with Chris Law and Ched Proctor crewing. The sails Simon used were the North Au04 main, LM2 jib, VMG and Full radial runner spinnakers. Set up was primarily to the North Sails’ One design tuning guide.

Race report by crew Ched Proctor:

Saturdays three races were sailed in an easterly breeze with the wind 6 knots picking up to as much as 10 knots by the end of the day. Generally the left side of the course paid off early in the beats. Race one got off with perhaps 20 boats called over. We started near the weather end and seemed to be going well. Unfortunately we started a little too well and heard our number called about a minute after the start. After restarting far last the race became a long journey. We climbed back a little to 38^th place gaining primarily downwind. New Zealander Cameron Appleton, worked the left side successfully to round the weather mark in second. They gained the lead on the first run and extended from there to win the race by a comfortable margin.

            In the second race we again started conservatively to windward of the jumble at the mid line boat and quickly flipped to port. The wind had shifted left about twenty degrees. As one of the furthest right boats we took several short hitches whenever the wind would go back to the mean. It never held long enough for us to get over the fleet. Generally it was staying further left on the left side of the course. In spite of the stronger left side pressure, we were able to stay in touch and rounded the top mark around 10^th. We picked off a couple on each leg to work up to 3^rd at the finish.

            Saturday’s last race was sailed in rather variable conditions. Phil Garland got off to a good start, and lead all the way around, holding off a strong charge by Cameron Appleton. There were lots of holes and it seemed to pay to go to the pressure rather than worry about the shift. The wind picked up on the last beat. We went fairly hard right and it paid off handsomely as the sea breeze helped pull the wind right as it had done in the end of the day in the previous regatta.

The scores at the end of Saturday’s racing showed Cameron Appleton in the lead with a 1, 15, 2. Newcomer to the class, Jeff Siegal was in second with 41 points. These were the only two competitors with 3 finishes inside the top 20.  Jud Smith was sitting third with 43 points. We were next with 47 points and the highest drop score. Ante Razmilovic was an unknown with average points situation for the first race. His other two races were 4, 12.

Sunday morning the wind seemed to be building nicely and had us setting up our rig for more wind. However before the start it dropped out and we went down to the same tensions we’d used on Saturday. Other than this pre race sailing, shroud settings and mast step stayed the same for the whole weekend. The first race started with considerable drama. We were well behind the line, tangled up with a competitor and a considerable acrimony was in the air. Our trim was way off resulting in slow speed. We tacked three times to clear our air and did a penalty turn before we were able to settle down and sail. We had started on the left and the wind again shifted pretty far left, we were in reasonable shape in spite of all the stumbling around and got to the weather mark around 12th. Jud Smith took the lead from the left side over standing the mark. They held on to win the race. We went hard right downwind, even beyond the layline and came out around fifth at the leeward gate. We rounded the right gate and took a clearing hitch then went fairly hard left. We dropped to 12 at the weather mark. We again worked our favorite side on the run to pass three boats and finish 9^th.

In the last race we won the pin start, and sailed fairly conservatively up the middle. We were around fifth or sixth most of the race. On the last beat we joined the end of the day right side shift and places to finish second. Robbie Doyle played it perfectly, passing several boats to finish first.

The first series of the Jaguar Cup '04 - '05, for the Piana Cup was sailed on December 5th & 6th.  Hosted by Fleet 20 at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, there 49 boats sailing 5 races in winds from 4 to 12 knots.  Glenn Burton from the Detroit Fleet won the regatta with results of 1-2-(28)-2-7.  A full regatta report is below.

  Florida Mid-Winters website

Photos of the event.  Sorry, the airport security agents were kind enough to scramble the film, there is no order to review the photos!

Cloth'n Canvas Bow Cover  Photo of Etchells blown of trailers

Detroit Team Wins Piana Cup
The first event of the 2005 Etchells Jaguar Cup Series, the Piana Cup, was won by team "Gone" sailing out Bayview Yacht Club. Team Gone consisted of Peter Feldman-helmsman, Glenn Burton and Sean "Doogie" Couvreux. The team had never sailed together before which provided a "No expectations and just have fun" mantra throughout the regatta. This made the racing easier especially when the team was behind. Collectively, Peter (Sears champion) and Glenn (two time Etchells World champion) have sailed Etchells over 40years with Doogie just coming off an Olympic 49er but never having sailed in the class. The competition was very strong including the likes of Dirk Kneulman, Jud Smith with Henry Frasier, Tim Law, Ante Razmilovic as well as local favorites Robert Bell and Buddy Cribb all placing in the top ten, it was a who's who of Etchells sailing.
 

Biscayne Bay Yacht club once again hosted the event for the December 6&7 events. Dave Brennan was the RC and provided great committee work. With erratic winds on Saturday the committee was constantly changing the marks to keep the legs as square as possible.  BBYC kept the fleet happy with ample libations and food after the days sailing. The RC was very sailor/radio friendly with course, distance, time and OCS's continually throughout the series. The use of a mid-line boat for the 49-boat fleet was employed thereby gaining an extra set of eyes on the line. This kept everyone somewhat honest in that no general recalls or black flags were   used. This is a rarity for an aggressive starting fleet like the Etchells.

Saturdays racing consisted of winds 5-8 from a direction 010-015 with a mix of sun and clouds. Prior to the start, team “Gone” observed 10-15 degree oscillations with left side pressure.
 

Race 1: started promptly at 11:00. We made the decision to start a third up from the left end to try and pick up the pressure as we headed left. Immediately after the start Robert Bell smoked the fleet heading to left forcing us to bear off and sail below him. Doogie (in 49er mode) thought that by bearing off the boat would accelerate, it did, an 1/8 of a knot but no match for Bell's speed. As the fleet tacked to port Gone went further left for more leverage and pressure. Rounding the top mark we stayed right on the run and increased our lead at the bottom gate mark. Back up the beat the left was still favored so we protected the left and finished by a good margin.  The other results forrace # 1: Tim Law 2nd and a pair of great lakes sailors, Padnos-Brand-Gamache 3^rd; along with Rick Kaiser 4th.

 
Race 2: started in similar conditions, left side with puffs. We again started near the left end and one tacked the first beat to lead at the top mark. The run was very similar with Jud right on our stern. Near the bottom mark Simon Williams made some gains and rounded the left gate mark. This proved the better course due to fact we had to sail through more bad wind from the on coming spinnaker on the run. Simon was able to pop out and hold his position the rest of the way for the victory. Near the top of the second beat, Jud and Gary Gilbert got into port/ starboard smash situation forcing Gary to make his spins. Gary was still able to hold on to 4th, Jud 3rd and Gone 2nd.

 
Race 3: had the most aggressive start of the series. Just prior to the start was the BIG BANG an ugly port/ starboard. Pat Stadel withdrew after major damage (bent chain plate) to her boat B/Witchcraft. Six boats were OCS with many more returning for a re-start. “Gone” returned to the starting line painfully after getting the call 15-20 seconds into the race. From this perspective it was find some clear air and try to take groups of boats at a time. While we cannot comment on the front of the fleet, the racing in the back was toe to toe. Doogie commented on how much we "tacked" on the first leg. He clearly was new to the boat and close tacking angles. The second beat was a parade when a big right hand shift came through. The committee corrected for the following run and squared up the final beat. “Gone” was able to pass 15 boats in the last two legs thus making us feel better about our speed and positioning.
Ante in Swedish Blue won the day with Gilbert 2nd and Gone holding third.
 

Sunday - Race 4: We could not wait to get this race started as we were one of the first boats to leave the dock. The wind had shifted to the right and steadied in at 100-105 8-12 knots coming off the point at Key Biscayne. The shifts were consistent with the right side seeming favored. Our game plan was to stay in the hunt and NOT BE OVER. Peter made an excellent start just above the windward side of the middle-line boat with no one on our bow. Ken Read used this style of starting when he won the Worlds last year on the LI Sound. Being in the middle of the line, we were able to confirm the right side and pick our lane and pressure to make our gains. Three boats that were more right got to the weather mark ahead of us with Jud being in the group. Down the run we straight set and held starboard jib until the layline. The boats ahead gybed earlier and seemed to get blanketed by the bags on the inside of the run. Gone took the right gate thereby creating leverage with the other leader's who took the left. We protected the left side and Robert Hitchcock led at mark four with Dirk right on our stern. Down the run Dirk sailed really fast with his red spinnaker and beat us when the finish line was closer to his side. Hitchcock finished 3rd and Buddy Cribb making a strong move to 4th.

Race 5: Going into the last race we had a good margin on Dirk and Jud so we just wanted to be close with no errors. “Gone” started three lengths from the right end. Jud started just below us. Jud started like he was shot out of a cannon, tacked to port and blew away the boats below him. He was first at the top mark with Phil Garland, Buddy and “Gone”. Dirk and Charles Baker made big gains down the run by staying to the right. This confirmed a trend to left going back up the beats. Garland was able to stay to the left of the lead group and held on for a nice win. Jud 2nd Baker 3rd.
Our rig set up was right off the North Tuning guide for wind's 6-12, upper's at 2nd hole 3/8 block behind the mast. Mast step at 17'5 1/2 rake at 47". We used 1 1/2 year old North PC main and full radial & VMG spinnakers. The main we first used during the 2003 Worlds and were deep head to foot. The North LM-1 jib was 1/2 year old and trimmed tight in all conditions.
 

 

Photo Page.  Over the next week we will be posting the photos of the boats moving into the fleet from last year.  Expect to see images of fleet happenings all through the summer!